Railroad-spike.



No. 657,5l3. Patented Sept. ll, I900.

B. M. CHASE. RAILROAD SPIKE.

(Application filed June 18, 1900.)

(No Model.)

& lgazgim eAfizz-geys UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BARNARD M. CHASE, OF HUDSON, NF.\V YORK.

RAILROAD-S PIKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,513, dated September 11, 1900.

Application filed J 11110 18, 1900.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BARNARD M. CHASE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hudson, in the county of Columbia and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Railroad-Spike, of which the following is a specification.

This'invention relates to spikes, and has for its object to provide an improved device of this character to form a track-fastening for securing the rails to the ties or sleepers.

It is furthermore designed to provide a railroad-spike of peculiar shape which facilitates the driving thereof and insures a straight setting of the spike, takes a firm hold upon the wood, so as to prevent the spike from working loose, and at the same time may be readily drawn without bending the spike, thus permitting of the latter being again used.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claim, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within the scope of the claim without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a railroad-spike formed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is an edge elevation of the spike. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Corresponding parts in all of the figures of the drawings are designated by like characters of reference.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates the shank of the spike, which is rectangular in cross-section and is provided with the usual head 2, the forward portion 3 of which projects laterally in front of the shank, so as to overhang the flange of a rail in the ordinary manner. In order to better distinguish the several sides of the spike, I will term the sides 4 and 5 the front and rear sides, respectively, which are smooth for their entire lengths, and thereby free from projections of any character; also, the lower portions 6 and 7 of these sides are bev- Serial No. 20,741. (No model.)

edge has three such projections, of which the upper two have their opposite ends 11 beveled so as to converge outwardly, and there by form inclined shoulders. The lowermost projection is considerably longer than the others, as it extends to the lowermost extremity of the shank, and instead of having its lower end terminated in an inclined shoulder the sharp edge formed by the opposite beveled faces 10 is extended and inclines inwardly, as at 12, to the adjacent end of the chisel-point of the shank. As best illustrated in Fig. 2, it will be seen that the uppermost projection terminates short of the head of the spike, so as to facilitate the application of a claw beneath the head for the purpose of drawing the spike from a tie.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the front and rear sides of the spike have no projections to interfere with the driving thereof, and the front side may be arranged in close proximity to the flange of a rail, so that the head may overhang the same. Also the comparatively-long beveled ribs at the point of the spike insure the straight driving thereof and prevent the same from being twisted, while the beveled ends of the other ribs or projections offer but slight re-- sistance in the driving of the spike, and the sockets or recesses formed by the adjacent beveled ends of the projections receive the fibers of the wood when the latter expands after the passage of the rib, whereby the spike is firmly gripped by the wood, and thereby held against accidentally working loose. As in the driving of the spike the lower inclined shoulders offer slight resistance, the upper shoulders offer slight resistance when the spike is being drawn out of the wooden tie, and the former may be drawn without the employment of a fulcrum for the claw-bar or other instrument, whereby the spike is not bent and is in condition for immediate use.

ICO

What is claimed is-- t A railroadspike, comprising a substan tiallyrectangular shank, having a head, which projects laterally at the forward side thereof, the front and rear sides of the shank being free from projections, and the opposite edges ofthe shank having a plurality of lon- 7 gitudinally-alined projections or ribs, the

opposite longitudinal sides of which are beveled and intersect substantially midway between the opposite sides of the spike, the op- I posite lowermost ribs having their sharp 1011-, gltudinal edges inclined inwardly toward the point of the spike, and their upper ends bev- BARN ARD M. CHASE.

I Witnesses:

EZRA A. TRAVER, GEORGE H. MAOY. 

